


Urracca: Memories of Decay

by Tress13



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: Flashbacks, Gen, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Implied/Referenced Character Death, my characters aren't genre savvy and they do dumb shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 08:49:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18443141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tress13/pseuds/Tress13
Summary: Traveling. Finding a bit - or a lot - of trouble. Enjoying life.These were all things that Urraca loved.This, however, was always one of the worse things about this sort of life. In the truly nasty fights, like this one, death was often… unavoidable. Some things were too far gone; too interested in causing destruction. There was no joy in this, even if the opponent had been a tanarukk. She knows that. She has known that.It didn't make it any easier.~~~A short story about Urraca Kirkston, my human trickery cleric for one of the D&D games I’m playing.





	Urracca: Memories of Decay

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place right after Urraca Kirkston and her two companions (Tuome & Capper) fight and kill a tanarukk.  
> Warning: mentions of death, illness, throw-up, and corpses

Traveling. Finding a bit - or a lot - of trouble. Enjoying life.

These were all things that Urraca loved.

This, however, was always one of the worse things about this sort of life. In the truly nasty fights, like this one, death was often… unavoidable. Some things were too far gone; too interested in causing destruction. There was no joy in this, even if the opponent had been a tanarukk. She knows that. She has known that.

It didn’t make it any easier.

It was the smell that was always the worse.

The tanarukk hadn’t smelled pleasant to start with; the hint of the hot-iron scent of something devil-touched was already present. The actual stench of death would not truly set in for another hour or two, but Urraca could already imagine the feeling of cloying rot setting into the air.

* * *

 

_The unbearable heat seared through her body. Even her bones seemed to burn and ache._

_It was dark now; shouldn’t it be cooler? Urraca felt herself shiver despite the fever._

_Her throat was dry and prickled with sharp pain._

_A cool washcloth was gently placed along her forehead. Urraca turned her face towards the hand with the washcloth but… the was something strange about the angle. The height of the person sitting beside her bed was off. Mama had been there for the majority of the past two days; was she slumping in the chair? Why were her hands shaking? Urraca opened her eyes and looked towards her mother’s figure… for a second she saw her mother but…that wasn’t right. Too small and …_

_“Lil’an?” Urraca’s throat burned as her sister’s name slipped past her lips. Voice tight and thin._

_A cool cup of water was pressed against her lips. It was refreshing but the liquid stung her cracked lips._

_Urraca tried to sit up - to speak with her sister, look down the hall, anything. Instantly the dim shapes and colors she could see swam and spun. Her head pounded. The small shift and movement brought into sharp relief every ache and pain in Urraca’s body. She felt as if she’d been pelted with rocks._

_Her sister moved forward, helping her lay back down. Lillian hummed a quite response but she couldn’t process it…_

_Urraca managed to turn her head to the open door, straining her eyes to look towards the doorway to her parent’s room. There was no light from down the hall, it was dark and silent, but there was a thick, cloying smell… ._

_Urraca’s stomach turned. She hadn’t been able to keep anything solid down for days, but she still felt the bile rise in her throat. Lillian’s arms circled around her shoulders, helping her shift just enough to be sick in a bucket instead of in her own bed. Lillian’s hands were gentle but the movement still hurt every joint, every muscle, and increase the steady throbbing ache in her head._

_She groaned, and the vibration seemed to tear at her throat._

_Urraca felt as if she might die._

_Was she going to die? She wanted Mama…_

_The shadows along her walls seem to grow. She lost consciousness._

* * *

 

Urraca had been vaguely uncomfortable and ready to move on as it was, the gigantic snake appearing right after the fight with the tanarukk did not improve any of those feelings at all. At least it appeared to be a … non-hostile snake? So far? Quite pretty too… .

Even so, Urraca wanted to leave the area, or burn the body, or… She would have to wait, depending on how long this conversation took.

Tuome and the enormous snake seemed to be conversing well enough - not completely surprising considering the druid’s interests - but Urraca expected that could change quickly depending on a number of variables. In slightly different circumstances she’d enjoy the sight of the enormous head resting in Tuome’s lap. It was a peculiar and relatively hilarious sight, but…

When her companions brought her attention to the ring on the tanarukk’s finger. . . the ring that seemed to have captured the serpent’s attention… she was never fond of touching the dead for loot, but the quicker it was done the better.

And this was so much more important than some quick funds.

She just needed to grab the ring. She could do that.

She flicked a smile at Capper; hoped it didn’t seem too nervous. Capper seemed pretty well grounded… .

Fuck it, just grab the ring. Don’t incite the gigantic snake. Leave.

* * *

 

_The stench was overwhelming by the next morning. A thick miasma that had slunk down the hall and coated her room._

_Urraca’s head thundered in agony and the nausea returned in full force. Her vision went white when she tried to focus, and her stomach rolled._

_The smell hung heavy in the air and Urraca gagged._

_Where was mom?_

_Dad?_

_Lil…?_

* * *

 

Slipping the ring off the tanarukk’s finger wasn’t as difficult as it could have been; rigor mortis was still hours away. There was just a bit of give in the flesh, but with a twist of her wrist she got the ring before sliding away from the devil-cursed fuck on the ground. Her finger slid along the edge of the ring. It tingled and she shuddered slightly.

_The smell of decay._

_Of death._

Urraca slipped the ring on.


End file.
